Since the competition for TM jobs is looking steep out there, there is no reason our town should offer to pay anywhere near as much for our next Manager as we did when we hired Maria Davis. Seems to me, someone will be more than happy to take the job for a more reasonable salary, and without all the over the top perks and goodies added on. We need not acquiesce to any prima donna contractual demands either.

Not only will applicants be lining up ready to vie for this job, but the Lake Park Commission must be lined up equally ready to run the show and set the boundaries beginning ASAP with the understanding that the town holds the cards and has a prize of a job up for grabs; they can be as choosy as they want to be this go round. Let’s hope our commission shows they want it badly enough and set expectations that will balance the payout we decide upon.

Home values in this town have plummeted near to where they were about 20 years or so ago, at least those in my neighborhood have. The Lake Park economy is far removed from the freeflowing spigot of cash it led itself to believe would be there to sustain it seemingly indefinitely 5 years ago (it’s a lowflow faucet now) and the town needs to face this reality and begin to reevaluate and downsize salaries; first and foremost the Town Manager’s. The salaries of town employees should reflect the wherewithall of the people whom they serve and from whom that salary is derived. I know… try cutting salaries and benefits and we can plan to steel ourselves against quite the outcry. So be it. I’m sure there are many who would line up for a chance at those jobs. Talk about unsustainable. How come we rarely hear about “sustainability” in a straightforward manner where it makes sense… in the context of spending?

It will take some strong individuals to assess this situation and do the right thing. Let’s hope common sense reigns in the days to come. Our commission must take a strong lead. They must set concrete plans and limits right away as to what Lake Park is willing and able to offer a new town manager before the search is rammed into first gear and the pedal hits the floor and the excitement of some new candidate whisks them beyond rational limits. They need to set their feet in stone on this. Emotion and the desire to just be done with the process will, no doubt, tempt our town to let things get out of control. Let’s not fall for that this time.

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6 thoughts on “How Bad do They Want it?”

Blogger: These are excellent suggestions! Our Town ‘austerity’ program should definitely include reductions of the Town Manager’s and Finance Director’s salaries. And payment for any other positions that (I suspect) will become available in the future.

I’m still looking at angles and ways to revise the Employee Handbook. In order to do that work, the Muni Codes and FL Statutes must be read. This is a daunting job! Anyone willing to help can email dianebernhard@aol.com

Due to the total lack of responsibility by the Mayor, Com Rumsey, and Com Stevens I bet Maria Davis’s name is on that list and other lists around the state. I am sure those towns will appriciate it when they make the mistake of hiring her and find out the time bomb they got. They should send the Lake Park Commission the bill for damages. They should just change the town ordinance to read “when the going gets tough we as a commission are obligated to pray it goes away, so someone else has to deal with it”. Pathetic!

With the exception of Steve Hockman, those that make up your commission need to go. They are clueless. They don’t care about the town or the people in it. All they care about is the little amount of power they get from sitting in a position of power. They also like appearing on television. They do not know what to do with power! They abuse it. They misuse it. They are an embarrassment to the town. How many have run a business? Only Steve Hockman! Only two on the commission understand the value of a dollar.

We can talk about how the others need to go but who will we vote for instead when no one will run!?!?

THERE IS NO GLORY IN SITTING IT OUT WHEN YOUR COUNTRY IS CALLING YOU TO SERVE ~ Mark Levin

Surely it’s a mistake that you didn’t mention Jeanine Longtin, too. Without Jeanine and Steve’s integrity and courage we’d have lost even more of our town’s resources. It takes a lot ro remain composed while being berated — especially in public.

I had high hopes that the ‘voting block’ would be broken once Ms. Osterman left town and the former Town Manager no longer held the the reins. (Or is that reigns?)

I guess I’ll have to repeat this until people start hearing it. When Patty Osterman & family moved to Stuart in January ’11, and Steve Hockman let us know what she’d done, I began calling for her resignation. If the town lawyer, the mayor, and the commission did not “know” she’d moved, shouldn’t they have looked into it?? Steve Hockman did. He took the case to the State attorney’s office and their investigation was the reason she finally resigned. No one on the dais did a thing to correct her illegal service but Steve Hockman. Then the mayor died. The town charter spells out a very specific set of rules. The town lawyer and Mr. Rumsey chose to ignore the law completely. Town law to this day says that in the case of the mayor or a commissioner (in Lake Park it’s the SAME thing) resigning or dying, the commission shall (not might) meet and appoint a temporary mayor. Mr. Rumsey stepped in and served as temporary mayor completely against the town law. And again, no one spoke up. Well, except me. Finally a special election was called for the mayor’s seat and the one Patty was siting in completely illegally. ( By the way, what about her salary those six months?…and her VOTES???) Again, total silence from the dais. And again, town law specifically forbids officials from campaigning in an election. That did not stop Mr Rumsey from displaying signs for the Stevens-DuBois ticket in his front yard. (Any Sunshine Law questions in a closely coordinated dual ticket, by the way?) I have heard numerous reports that Maria campaigned hard for Stevens-DuBois. I saw her with my own eyes at the Stevens-DuBois canopy on the front lawn of Town Hall smiling, waving voters over, and generally appearing to encourage votes for Stevens-Dubois.Town staffers were of course reluctant to report that they were ordered to make calls for Stevens-DuBois because after the re-write of the employee handbook by Maria’s ‘friend” Patricia Bass (with whom she co-owns real property) Maria was granted the regal right to dismiss any town employee for any reason she wished with that employee having NO recourse). So unfortunately, all this must be relegated to the title of hearsay. (For now.) So now we have the current unfortunate mess. The three commissioners that I refer to as Maria’s pets…DuBois, Stevens, and Rumsey as you may have noticed vote in a lockstep 3-2 tally on anything important that comes up. (The two Being Longtin and Hockman.) Maria is still with us until these three are gone! I’ll give you THE example which they MUST answer for… they not only let her resign WITHOUT CAUSE, but gave her a $52,000 severance gift check (our money folks!) for her outstanding service. Lake Parkers and others, please remember. And VOTE accordingly!